Teaching & Mentoring Communities making a difference for Migrant Students
By: Ricardo E. Calderon
Copyright 2014 Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.
On a cold, chilly January early-morning in Eagle Pass, Texas, one by one accompanied by their parents over 50 seasonal migrant children arrived with broad smiles and cheerful spirits to another day of learning and growing at their Teaching and Mentoring Communities Migrant Seasonal Head Start Program located at 2990 Diaz Street in the historic Seco Mines neighborhood of Eagle Pass in Maverick County, Texas.
Teaching and Mentoring Communities (TMC), formerly Texas Migrant Council, was founded in 1971 in Eagle Pass, Asherton, Laredo, Mission, Pharr, Weslaco, and Brownsville, Texas with a federal $50,000 grant to provide educational training and learning to seasonal migrant children in South Texas, announced Rodolfo Lopez, Center Manager at the 2990 Diaz Street TMC Education Center. Today, TMC is a $100 Million multi-services organization offering educational programs, family literacy, consumer education, prenatal care and parental education regarding quality childcare covering five different areas in Texas including the Wintergarden Area with Eagle Pass, Crystal City, Carrizo Springs, the Laredo area, the Texas Panhandle area, the Upper Rio Grande Valley area, and the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
Teaching and Mentoring Communities has three educational centers operating in Eagle Pass located at 687 FM 2030 (Chula Vista), 302 Balcones (Balcones Heights), and 2990 Diaz Street (Seco Mines) with over 150 total students attending.
Children whose parents are seasonal migrants or work in agriculture-related jobs and reside within Eagle Pass or another TMC-service community and are six-weeks old to five year old are eligible to participate in the TMC Migrant Seasonal Head Start Program. TMC assists special needs seasonal migrant children with their pre-school education, head-start education, and child development. TMC prepares these students for their education with the respective public school system in their communities such as the Eagle Pass Independent School District when they reach six years old. TMC has been operating for over 43 years now assisting seasonal migrant children fully develop into successful and productive students in society.
TMC’s mission is to help children and families in emerging diverse communities by creating opportunities for advancement through education, training and other resources in collaboration with public and private partners. TMC operates over 50 educational centers in Texas serving over 8,000 children and during the seasonal migrant work periods throughout the year travels with the children and their parents to such states as Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Ohio to continue providing them with their educational needs.
TMC treats each child individually in the classroom and teaches them their age-specific educational skills to continue advancing in their educational development until they reach six years old and enter their respective public school system. Seasonal migrant children receive special educational services such as speech and language therapy, physical therapy, audiology, psychological services, and all educational needs to fully develop to their maximum potential.
“There are over 250 families in Maverick County that are seasonal migrants and participate with TMC in Eagle Pass,” said Rodolfo Lopez, TMC Center Manager. “Seasonal migrants are important to both the local and national economies for their significant work and contributions to the labor force, businesses, housing market, retail businesses, and educational institutions,” added Lopez. “We must not forget the significant contributions made by seasonal migrant families and workers in the community and country,” said Lopez. TMC is here to assist these seasonal migrant families to ensure that their children receive a quality education which prepares them for success.
One young Eagle Pass woman who is an alumni of the TMC educational program and is blazing new trails in the community is Hellen E. Martinez, Senator Carlos I. Uresti’s Eagle Pass office representative. During a recent visit to the Seco Mines TMC Education Center, Hellen E. Martinez related how important the education she had received at an Eagle Pass TMC Education Center had contributed to laying a solid educational foundation to her educational success and professional development as a Legislative Aide to Senator Carlos I. Uresti. “Without TMC, I would never have developed into the student and professional that I am today,” said Martinez.
TMC students are provided with all the educational training and learning to succeed. Students are also provided free transportation to and from their homes to the school, warm breakfasts and lunches, and age appropriate classrooms and educational materials.
The public is invited to visit any TMC Education Center in Eagle Pass or to refer their children to an TMC Education Center if they work as seasonal migrants and/or in agriculture-related jobs. For more information about TMC Education Centers, please contact Rodolfo Lopez, TMC Center Manager, at (830) 773-7477 or (830) 773-8994.
